Saturday, August 13, 2016

On Being a Professional Artist

First off, let me write that this is not a how to guide
about how to become a professional artist.There are hundreds, if not thousands of those out there, most of them geared
toward commodifying the artist personality and by extension the artwork.I’m not sure if following those guides actually
help or not, just like I’m not sure whether my two years in an MFA program
actually prepared me for a life of a professional artist.What I can say is that after the MFA
professionalism is something that is not given over by a degree or title but
acquired, and even if one doesn’t sell the work they make, does that make them
a lesser artist?I suppose that to be a
professional in western culture means to make money off of what one does, but
does that immediately negate all the artists that slave away in and out of
their studios daily who do not have gallery representation or sell their work,
do not appear in flashy magazines, do not get to exhibit in the art fairs and
biennials around the world, do not have long write ups on art blogs and are
generally ignored?

For me to believe that I am a professional artist I have to
have certain criteria met.I have to be
able to make work, which means that I have to have a space to do it, preferably
a studio.I have to be able to
communicate with the people I know like and enjoy my work and to get it out to
those that may one day like and enjoy my work.Easy enough I suppose, I have a studio and a computer.But sending off random emails to curators and
galleries is like knocking on a stranger’s door, first you don’t know if anyone
is home and second what do you say if they open up?The elevator speech? The ultimate in
self-presentation and commodification?Give me a run-down of what you do and what you are about in 30 seconds.
Go! Fair enough, even I understand the merits of this type of presentation.

The road to being a professional artist is a long and
arduous one.But the question is what is
wrong with just calling oneself an artist and leaving the word professional out
of it?Some people get there by walking
over others, by screaming the loudest, by kissing enough ass along the
way.It would be naïve to think that
those people do not exist.Those artists
are not bothered by ethics or common decency, or the dignity of those they callously
throw under the bus just so they can get a short step ahead.But for myself I have to be somewhat naïve to
think that those artists will one day end up in the trash heap of history, that
their behavior will get them excommunicated, because the reality is that the
artworld is filled with people of the most terrible sort, many of whom are at
the top of the pile, but just as many are the rank and file, waiting to fill
the few spots that might one day become available at the top.

My naiveté is that I believe that the alternative is also
possible, that the alternative to the commercial artworld is not only the academic
profession, where you have to watch what you say and how you say it. My advice,
if one can call it that, is to read whatever you can and listen to whoever you
can about being an artist and as soon as you do that, forget everything you
read and heard, because those people don’t know shit.Only you know how to make your work and what’s
best for you.Professionalism destroys
art.An artist has to be first and
foremost, free.